Is Linux only for the poor? (ZDNet)

[Posted March 23, 2009 by jake]

Over at ZDNet, Christopher Dawson looks at Linux adoption in schools, specifically whether it is a decision based only on cost. "Cost will certainly give people a reason to switch, but I dont think a crappy economy or poverty in a developing country is the only reason to use Linux and open source software. I wont even get into the argument of exposing kids to a variety of computing environments. I think the biggest reason to use Linux (aside from potential cost savings if you can develop some in-house *nix expertise) is simply the giant body of software that is freely available."

Is Linux only for the poor? (ZDNet)

Posted Mar 23, 2009 17:15 UTC (Mon) by wmikrut (guest, #57319) [Link] (9 responses)

Let's not forget about the stability of the system. I can keep a Linux server up for hundreds of days without the need to restart the machine. My record is somewhere around 550 days --- before a building power problem persisted for 12 hours -- draining the UPS.

Also, let's look at another one of the many benefits... FTP/SFTP.
I can setup as many FTP/SFTP accounts as I like on a Linux based system without the need of purchasing a "user license" for each account.

Is Linux only for the poor? (ZDNet)

Posted Mar 23, 2009 18:48 UTC (Mon) by trasz (guest, #45786) [Link] (8 responses)

Problem is, stability of Linux goes to hell when you consider typical workstation, with all the
problems with graphics drivers.

Is Linux only for the poor? (ZDNet)

Posted Mar 23, 2009 19:48 UTC (Mon) by flewellyn (subscriber, #5047) [Link] (6 responses)

If you use free graphics drivers, that's not an issue.

Is Linux only for the poor? (ZDNet)

Posted Mar 24, 2009 0:18 UTC (Tue) by pabs (subscriber, #43278) [Link] (3 responses)

I disagree. I still get the "ring of death" bug on intel drivers.

Is Linux only for the poor? (ZDNet)

Posted Mar 24, 2009 3:37 UTC (Tue) by jordanb (guest, #45668) [Link] (2 responses)

What "ring of death"? I've never seen a "ring of death" except on an xbox.

Years ago I'd have problems where Firefox would lock XFree86 up, such that I have to ssh in and kill it. That was actually very common in the Netscape 4.7 days. I've also had the occasional unintentional forkbomb (various versions of asterisk with bad extensions.confs will do that, especially). In every case the failure results in the screen and input freezing.

I've been using linux on my desktop for over ten years now, though, and can't ever recall seeing a panic that didn't occur while booting a broken kernel. I've never used proprietary drivers but have used just about every make of video card with free drivers.

Is Linux only for the poor? (ZDNet)

Posted Mar 24, 2009 12:54 UTC (Tue) by wertigon (guest, #42963) [Link]

Nevermind him. He's been watching the tape. He'll be dead soon, anyhow.

... Lest he transfer it to Youtube...

Is Linux only for the poor? (ZDNet)

Posted Mar 24, 2009 14:29 UTC (Tue) by tzafrir (subscriber, #11501) [Link]

A forkbomb with Asterisk?

Asterisk could be run with real-time scheduling priority. Thus a 100% CPU loop in it (e.g.: an endless loop in the dialplan) would make Asterisk the only process getting CPU time. And thus the computer is quite unresponsive.

This, however, changed in 2.6.25: after a short while, such a loop will only get 95% CPU and thus leave you with a somewhat functional system (functional enough to troubleshoot. Or at least to shoot down the offender)

Is Linux only for the poor? (ZDNet)

Posted Mar 24, 2009 10:35 UTC (Tue) by niner (subscriber, #26151) [Link] (1 responses)

It is. My system locks up pretty reliably while playing Warcraft 3 on an
Intel GM965 which is thought to have the best available free drivers.

Is Linux only for the poor? (ZDNet)

Posted Mar 24, 2009 15:39 UTC (Tue) by nlucas (guest, #33793) [Link]

I don't need to be playing games (which I do less and less now). All it takes is receiving a gmail chat request from someone when there is a blue moon and my home PC freezes (Kubuntu 8.04 LTS, fully intel machine).

Is Linux only for the poor? (ZDNet)

Posted Mar 24, 2009 5:13 UTC (Tue) by muwlgr (guest, #35359) [Link]

Yes, and with ACPI suspend/resume on lot of ASUS notebooks, as well.

Is Linux only for the poor? (ZDNet)

Posted Mar 24, 2009 0:58 UTC (Tue) by wmikrut (guest, #57319) [Link]

Well, I can honestly say I do not use the "Graphical" part of Linux.
I will set it to the Multi-User Mode and let it boot from there.

From a server perspective Mail, Web and FTP/SFTP -- it is very stable.
Our Windows servers crash frequently -- and need to be restarted on a regular basis. (Bad setup -- perhaps, but I am only responsible for the Linux servers in our company).